Cappelli firms say Cushman & Wakefield must cover 3Thirty3 bias costs

The Cappelli Organization is demanding that Cushman & Wakefield real estate services cover the costs of a discrimination case brought by the former manager of a New Rochelle apartment building.

Cappelli claims, in a complaint filed June 21 in Westchester Supreme Court, that a Cushman affiliate had agreed to compensate Cappelli for legal actions brought against the 3Thirty3 apartment building.

The 28-story, 285-unit apartment complex at Centre Avenue and Huguenot Street is owned by a Cappelli affiliate based at the company’s headquarters in White Plains.

In 2021, the Cappelli affiliate hired Pinnacle Property Management Services, a Cushman affiliate, to manage and lease 3Thirty3.

Pinnacle agreed to indemnify Cappelli against claims resulting from gross negligence, fraud or willful misconduct by Pinnacle or its employees, according to the complaint.

This past March, former 3Thirty3 property manager Ahouva Steinberg filed an action with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging discrimination by Pinnacle, Cushman and the Cappelli entities.

Steinberg, who was hired by Pinnacle to manage the property, according to the complaint, is gay, Jewish and suffers from asthma.

She claims in the EEOC proceeding that Pinnacle’s regional manager created a hostile workplace. The manager allegedly made derogatory remarks about Jews, made sexually explicit comments, commented on Steinberg’s physical appearance, treated men collegially while treating women with derision, and refused to accommodate Steinberg’s medical condition.

Steinberg claimed in the EEOC case that even before she filed the action Pinnacle knew that the regional manager had a propensity for harassing employees, according to the Cappelli complaint.

The Cappelli complaint does not take a position on the merits of Steinberg’s EEOC case. Rather, it says it is the Cushman companies’ responsibility to handle the legal costs.

But the Cushman companies allegedly demanded that the Cappelli affiliates unite with them in a joint defense and to limit their reimbursement to $7,000 in attorney fees.

On May 25, the Cappelli companies made another demand for indemnification, the complaint states, but the Cushman companies have not responded.

The Cappelli affiliates accused the Cushman companies of breach of contract, and they are asking the court to make them pay for all costs.

A Cushman spokesman did not reply to an email asking for the firm’s response to the allegations.

The Cappelli firms are represented by White Plains attorneys Alfred E. Donnellan and Nelida Lara.